She Came Back
by LoveandScience
Summary: Alice comes back to find her Hatter, and realizes his wounded heart may take more than a kiss to heal. Does she love him enough to handle his madness when it's become depressive? AliceXHatter. Dark. Rated M for later. Cutting, Sexual Scenes, Depression.
1. Chapter 1

And he was sitting down in the tall grass, shaking as silent tears streamed down his face. Only his hat was seen sticking up. Rocking back and forth, muttering her name.

_Alice. Alice._

A soft whimper escaped his lips.

_You could stay..._

So noncommittal. So little force behind that question. If he had tried harder, just maybe... But no. She hadn't given him a second thought.

"But, Hatter, I did. Oh, Hatter, I'm so sorry. I went back and my memories and my muchness were there, thanks to your help."

She didn't think a measly old Hatter had feelings, maybe. No, Alice was not cruel. Who was it that told him all the best people were mad?

"Hatter, of course you have feelings. Of course I know. Hatter, please!"

He felt his body pulled to the side. Maybe now he couldn't even control his body. He knew his mind was long gone. The tugging drew him around.

Oh gods, here are my hallucinations. Her face etched with concern over me. No, no. Ghost of Alice, stop haunting me.

And suddenly, his hallucination did what it never had done before. There was warmth on his cheeks--her hands. His saddened blue eyes matched the ones he stared into. And most tortuous of all, the phantom hugged him. Worse than that, he could feel every curve of her body as she lay on top of him, and it felt amazing. It took a minute for him to move his arm off of the pebble digging into it, as he hadn't noticed. He breathed in deep and almost choked. Her smell, as vivid as when she was there.

She was there.

She was lying on top of him, holding him and crying his name. The haziness vanished and he suddenly felt the reality.

"You're back?"


	2. Chapter 2

The very man she had wanted to see had been less than a mile from the entrance to Underland. She'd known his hat by the tip she saw above the grass--she'd ridden on it, how could she not recognize it?-- and had rushed forward. But his eyes were dead and his expression was that of terror. He muttered all sorts of things about _her_. What had she done?

Alice lunged on top of him, crying his name to try and bring him back. She held him tightly and buried her face in his neck.

The smell of the Mad Hatter was unexpectedly faint and frigid. It was nothing close to normal.

London had been seriously dreary, and being named an "apprentice" in her father's company was just an excuse for the men still working there to harass and hit on her. She quit immediately. She knew she had to have left Underland in the first place to go back to her family, and couldn't, wouldn't take it back, and she'd only been gone for a month. Yet, seeing her best ever friend on the edge, sobbing and in pain...she almost wished she'd left her family hanging and stayed by his side. Realization dawned on her that time went by faster here, and he must have been waiting at least a year.

"I'm so sorry, Hatter. Even if London had been great for me, I still would have come back."

He seemed lucid as his dark blue eyes flashed a look at her. "You'll just leave again. You always leave." He got louder, madder, more frightening, lifting his head in his spiral of rage. "And why _shouldn't_ you! There's nothing worth staying here for. But...it's more than I can take." His head thudded back to the ground.

She held him tighter. "But now I've made preparations. My family knows where I am, and I'm NOT going back." She expected a response, but he was stiller than ever. "Hatter, it wasn't just because London's terrible. I realized that the only man I'd ever love was here." Red tinged her cheeks. "You..." she whispered a few seconds after.

Tarrant's hands tightened around hers and he sat up, never breaking his gaze. He slowly, almost exxageratingly, began closing the distance between them, completely terrified of rejection and of kissing a woman who did not want it. He positioned her arms around his waist, where she tightened her grip. Their lips brushed against each other in a sudden swift motion, neither able to tell who made the first move. First gently, then more feverishly. Both desparate, needy, loving, comforting...

"Hatter," she managed between kisses. He only grunted and pushed her to the ground, still attached to her lips. A moment later, he paused, leaning over her. Alice reached up to entwine her fingers in his bright orange hair. "Hatter, I've missed you."

He let out a small chortle. "I haven't had tea since you chose London over Underland...over me."

"But...I told you! I planned to come back to you. I couldn't leave my family worried, and I had to be sure..."

"That you wanted to give it up for good?" he finished. She had to admit that was true, and nodded lightly. "That would have saved a lot of heartache, had I known." he managed a grin.

"Well, I wasn't sure you loved me back. I left a goodbye note for my family, I quit my job, and I'm here. I risked everything today to find out. There's no going back there, so I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't. But I promise I'll use my muchness to tell you my intentions from now on. I don't want to cause you anymore pain. I love you, Tarrant Hightopp." The blonde girl pulled his face down to kiss him. "Let's go have tea."

He smiled, genuinely this time.


	3. Chapter 3

Tea without the March Hare stayed surprisingly calm.

"It's kind of our thing," Tarrant explained, "it's our long-running joke." His bandaged hand brought the teacup to his lips, and he sipped quite daintily.

Alice scooted her chair even closer to him. "Hatter," she began when his plate and cup were empty, "why do you have your hands and arms wrapped up all the time?"

His happy lime-colored eyes zapped blue for a moment, then drifted to a dark green. "Alice, my dear. This is the first time you've been on time for tea." A smile crept up his face as he dipped his head to kiss her about-to-protest lips. Changing the subject? Success! Before she could get back to her question, he stood and offered his arm. "If you like, I could show you my house."

This was just too tempting to pass up. She had never seen where the man she so cared for lived! Would it be as mad as he was?

Yes.

The house was fairly large--most likely due to the five hat storage rooms-- and was shaped like a spiral on top of a large room. The stairs led to a hole in the corner of the ceiling where a walkway causing passersby to defy gravity twisted and turned for the length of several more doors with who knows what behind them. The Hatter opened one in the middle.

"My room," he motioned her in. Before she could take it all in, he pressed her lightly to the wall.

Oh, it was good to have him smelling like tea again, let alone tasting like it. This suited him much more.

"Alice..." his breath caught as she held him tight, grinding against his hardening member. While he was very much a man and knew how to handle himself, Tarrant had never felt anything like what Alice was doing. It drove him mad, but in an entirely different way than he knew was possible. All the Hatter could coherently form in his brain was a desire to get closer.

"Gray eyes are--"

"Aroused, Alice," he cut her off. Before he could do anything about it, his hands had guided her towards his bed and were behind her head and waist, lying her down on the lavender sheets. She grabbed at his jacket, tossing it to the floor. The bowtie soon followed.

She went for his shirt, but he pulled back abruptly.

"I can't." It seemed as if he was struggling to stay happy, as she watched the blue and green war back and forth in his soft round orbs.

"But Tarrant--"

They flared bright orange. "I **can't**!! I CAN'T!"

The blonde girl fought back her tears. "I promise it will be okay," she said quietly, lovingly.

He sat down next to her. "What was I thinking? Of course you'd have had to see me without my clothes... Alice, I can't."

She could see him drifting away into his thoughts, so she wrapped her arms around him. "Hatter, Tarrant, I'll love you no matter what's under your shirt."

He didn't respond, but when she tried again to remove it, he cooperatively lifted his arms.

"Oh, Tarrant." Alice threw her arms around him and laid her head on his horridly scarred chest. "How?"

There was only his soft whisper for an answer. "Me."

It was so hard not to cry, but it was more important to her to show him he was still the man she loved. Her fingers traced the lines delicately, and he glanced down, bewildered.

"You aren't disgusted?"

"I'm sad that you did this, but I'm not at all disgusted. You are you, you are my Hatter." She eyed his bandages. "There, too?"

"Most of my body. I've been doing this for a long time; eventually you run out of places."

She pulled him down with her as she lay back, their heads on the pillows. He sighed, relieved and, for the most part, content. "Thank you, Alice."


	4. Chapter 4

Alice was crying. It was still late out, maybe 1 A.M., he guessed, and his Alice had jolted upright in the bed and was now crying emphatically.

"Alice? Alice, what is it?" he questioned, sleepy but concerned.

Her arms flailed around, and only stayed still when they found themselves around his neck. Pulling herself closer, her crying lessened slightly. "My Hatter..."

"My Alice," he tried to get her to smile, but to no avail. He settled on caressing her bare back. Oooh, bare? No, no, he couldn't get turned on right now--she was upset.

"I dreamt you were marrying another woman," she quietly admitted.

All of Tarrant's thoughts halted and focused him completely on the center of his universe. Holding her arm firmly, he tilted her chin so she could see his eyes, the moonlight bright on his face. "Never," he said strongly. "That will never, ever happen. Never."

"How can you be so sure?" She didn't want to let herself get swept away so easily, as alluring as it was.

He blushed. He knew they were in love, but it was a little soon to say this. Nevertheless, it was true and may just be the only way to show her how wrong her dream had been.

"Because, Alice," he swallowed. This was in no way how he wanted to tell her his intentions. "Because the only person I would ever marry is, well, you." He had said it. He waited for the 'Oh, Hatter, I wouldn't go that far, but thanks anyway," but it never came.

The blonde whimpered once, full of relief, tinged with sorrow, and exploding with love. "Tarrant! Really? I'm not dreaming, am I?" she pinched herself, winced, then smiled. "Oh, Tarrant, I hope so much you really mean it."

Before he could reaffirm that, yes, he indeed wanted no less than to call her 'Mrs. Hightopp,' he was flat against the bed in the middle of a passionate tongue wrestle with...was she now his fiancee?

Still kissing her, but trying to slow the pace, he placed her on her back and lay on his side, facing her.

"Now no more bad dreams, you and _your_," he emphasized her ownership, "Hatter both need rest."

They wrapped their arms around each other, legs entangling, and closed their eyes.

* * *

Tarrant Hightopp loved tea. He could drink cups of it continuously for hours on end, and in fact that used to be how he spent entire days for years on end, which is why it was so weird that he'd gone without it for so long. Reaching for the highest shelf--one the March Hare couldn't get to--the Hatter took down his favorite teapot. _Pale blue, with dark purple flower designs. Very Alice-like._ His musings turned to the perfect tea preparation as he worked diligently to make an entirely new type of tea. So when Alice accepted the cup, as he grinned his toothy grin and exclaimed joyously, "This is my experiment!" she was a little wary.

"Delicious!" Alice stood up, eyes wide with electricity. She bolted for the front door, and made it halfway across the field before Tarrant caught up with her. He mentally interrogated himself. He'd put in cinnamon, sugar, mushrooms, bay leaves, and essence of cheese. What could have made her turn so...weird? I know, weird sounds a bit out of place coming from someone living in a world where flowers talk, but she was enchanted with a spoon.

He dumped the rest of the liquid out, and instead threw together an old tried and true recipe. About half an hour later, things were more normal and they had filled their stomachs.

"Would you like to go on a stroll?" he walked to where she sat and pulled her chair out, helping her up.

"That sounds perfect."

* * *

Alice had no idea where they were headed, and would have thought it had been an aimless wandering had Hatter not looked so determined and pointed. It took about an hour before she had any idea where they could be headed, but it was well worth the walk. The trees were purple, set against the sky, and in a valley far below, she saw a lake brimming with fish jumping to and fro. Liveliness exuded from every inch below, and yet...up here with the Hatter, it was only the two of them. They lay next to each other in the grass, wordlessly fighting to keep looking at the view around them. It was a lovely view, but it was just that they found each other much more attractive.

While still trying to concentrate on the large tree towering above her, a shadow began to eclipse her as the Hatter moved to lay on her.

As she was about to speak, Hatter seized the short opportunity he had to kiss her. _I must be addicted to her taste._

They became more passionate, breathing quickly through their noses in an attempt to not part in the slightest bit. Tarrant slid her dress down over her shoulders, exposing a newfound area for his hands to claim. Alice could barely let out a moan when he squeezed one, as he continued to barrage her mouth with unbridled lust. Her hands found their way to his chest as she forcefully pulled it up over his head. She supposed his jacket and bowtie had been yanked off sometime earlier in the process, but was too overwhelmed with desire to care when.

"Alice," he groaned, feeling just as wanting. He had little inhibition about how he looked as he slid his fingers into her hair and pulled her back on to his lips. He pulled their connected bodies up to sit against the tree, and tugged her into his lap.

Now straddling him, she felt suddenly in control as he gasped at the way she rubbed herself on his manhood. Though this situation was new to them, their instincts knew exactly what was going on. Hatter yanked her dress down with such force, that a slight ripping noise made itself apparent. She lifted her legs out of the clothing, one after the other, and it was tossed somewhere she didn't care to look. Tarrant's breath caught as he saw she was panty-less.

He grinned wildly. "Naughty..."

But Alice had already undone his pants and was pulling down on them. Tarrant slipped out of the pesky hinderance and pushed his lover to the ground. More groping ensued as he positioned himself over her. He glanced up at her face, seeing nothing but love and pleasure mirroring his own, and with one long thrust felt his entire length engulfed with a wave of delightful pressure. She yelped, this new slightly painful, but more-so wonderful, feeling overtaking her mind. Hatter kissed her softly, allowing long enough for her to adjust. Her cringe vanished, and she bucked her hips to meet his, sliding her wetness along his cock, down and up.

He shuddered in pleasure, and the two found their rhythm. "Tarrant," was all she could manage to say.

"My Alice," he responded.

He shifted his position slightly and continued to thrust. She cried out in new delectation as he hit her in the most sensitive spot inside. Tarrant's onslaught became faster, grunting and gasping and groaning as he lost himself to the ecstasy.

"Alice!" he yelled hoarsely. A few more strokes and he was over the edge. She moaned his name in turn, flying over it with him.

Tarrant collapsed on top of her, both of them out of breath. He rolled over so she would be on top of him, and held her tightly. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she murmured.

* * *

I don't put a lot of author's notes, but I had an awful dream last night similar to Alice's. I was helping my guy plan his wedding to another woman, and I woke up grabbing him, really upset. Hatter's reaction is much less sleepy, hehe.

I want to thank the reviewers for being so wonderful, and to all the people that favorited my story and/or put it on story alert. I rarely favorite a story, so that's an extreme honor to me. I am absolutely flattered. Much Love, K.


	5. Chapter 5

A long, angry red scar led from Tarrant's shoulder, past the crook of his elbow, and ended in the palm of his hand. It had to have been fairly recent, perhaps a couple of weeks ago. There were a few other fresher wounds on his wrist and his right hip, which she kissed lightly.

* * *

She had awoken last night to find Hatter with an impassive expression, just staring out the window. When she crept closer, she saw him dragging his knife blade slowly across the skin above his heart.

"Hatter," she had called softly, fearfully. Swiftly, he spun, throwing his metal sharp-edged device to the ground.

"You left!" The man was enraged.

"I would never leave you!" Alice threw back, swallowing the urge to step away as he grabbed her shoulders.

"You left me! I saw you in my dream, leaving me. You're going to go! That's why you're awake right now, talking to me. You're getting ready to leave me!" In breathing, he let out a painful, short sob. "I'm not good enough. You'll be happier."

She had tried to reassure and comfort him, but nothing seemed to work. Somehow, she had gotten him to lay back down, but he cried and mumbled incoherently for about an hour before he fell back asleep. The whole time, all she could do was quietly try to convince him she never had and never would leave, but she didn't think he'd ever ended up believing her.

* * *

So here she was, laying with him after he'd just woken up. She hadn't slept the entire rest of the night. Tarrant looked ashamed and made a move to get up, yet she pushed him back down by lying on top of him, and proceeded to study his scars.

"You...bandaged the ones from last night?" he inquired, resigned to being her specimen for the morning.

Alice nodded. "What happened, Tarrant?"

"I got scared. I dreamed you leaving and knew you would," he replied woodenly.

"Tarrant Hightopp," she looked at him sternly, "I will be staying right here with you."

He half-smiled, narrowing his bushy eyebrows in a mischievous manner. He had just noticed her position--straddling him. "Right _here_?" He pinched her butt.

The woman yelped, laughing at his newfound boldness. "Hatter!"

* * *

They made it downstairs before it happened. They'd even set the table and were ready to start eating. But it happened, as it surely would have sooner or later to a man like Tarrant Hightopp. Hatter flew into a rage of anger she'd only ever seen reserved for the Red Queen, but instead it was directed at _her_. The situation was so unreal, that she only realized the need to flee when he charged at her, flaming orange eyes set on attacking Alice's tiny frame.

She rushed past the trees, escaping deeper and deeper into the forest. Twisting and winding in random paths so that there would be no way he'd find her. She thanked her luck that she ran faster than him.

Assuming she was far enough, the exhausted blonde slumped against a tree, scared and out of breath. This wasn't real. This wasn't happening. Hatter would never attack her so violently. Her mind flashed a picture of his soft green eyes, then another of them sharply gray and staring at her as if she were a rare delicacy. Now, such anger? No, this wasn't him.

But...

But it was. Of course people called him the _Mad_ Hatter for a reason. What had she done to set it off? _Well, I had been carrying the tea to the table, and remarked that a repeat of yesterday sounded good to me. _Alice continued to muse until she became too tired, then lay down to nap.

Blue eyes fluttered open, adjusting themselves to the night. "What?" She looked around, then remembered the fight. "Oh..." Where could she go? She had only come back for the Hatter, and if he didn't want her then she had nothing worth staying in this world for. Maybe her mother would allow her back...

"Alice, so good to see you," came a purring voice.

Hesitantly, she spoke, "Chess?"

The cat faded in, his trademark grin wide. "What are you doing out here?"

At least he wasn't speaking in riddles. "I think Tarrant has had a bout of severe madness...or he just hates me," Alice considered the worst.

"The man's head over heels for you. That's why no one's seen him since you left."

"Where do I go, if I can't be with him?" her voice cracked.


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes, in moments of madness, I lose myself. I'm prone to seemingly random bouts of deep, unfathomable sadness. I feel myself turning angry, bitter, and depressed. The empty shell that I once existed as trying to come back and overtake my new, healthy brain. But, it's not actually so arbitrary. Small triggers are hidden throughout the apertures of the world that unkindly thrust me back to painful shadows of the past from which it seems I must go on an entire quest just to climb back out of the hole.

Sometimes, in moments of madness, I am not who I want to be, who I strive to be every second of my life. These moments throw me back to square one, where I have to reclaim my identity. But perhaps not all is forgotten, as friends still remember that person I was. Maybe I still am that person, just going through a rough spot.

Sometimes, in moments of madness, this overwhelming compulsion to harm myself, to get rid of myself, rears its ugly head. I try to hide under the covers--will sleep chase it away? But everytime I close my eyes all I see is my most feared situations coming to life, as if to mock me. "You can't escape," it wants me to know. The madness can be crippling.

But...

Mostly, I'm really quite happy.

Most of the time, the simple pleasures of life are all I need. A game, a kiss, a fun song...

Most of the time, I am so thankful for the air around me, for being alive, for the few spectacular friendships I've managed to keep. I take pleasure in my sheets, the way that as soon as I pull them over my chest I'm instantly warmed. I am ecstatic that nearly anytime I want, I can pull the woman of my dreams into my arms and do whatever I so please with her. I am so happy for the comedians that make me laugh so hard I'm worried my eyes will leak.

My challenge has always been to reconcile these disparate facets of myself, through which I stumble through clumsily, grabbing at the jagged jutting rocks to steady myself from falling in the cavernous tunnel of my thoughts.

* * *

The Hatter found his Alice speaking with the Cheshire Cat. He had been wandering the woods for quite some time now, and felt a surge of luckiness when he heard their voices. She was scared, and he wanted only to show her he was okay now, that he wouldn't have hurt her anyway. She noticed him walking slowly towards her, and the cat vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Tarrant," she smiled, holding her arms out to him. He gladly enveloped himself in them, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I would never have hurt you, I swear," the words came rushing out, "I got set off, but there's no way I could ever bring myself to harm you, conciously or otherwise. And you must know that I positively love you more than anything imaginable, even if sometimes I scream, but hopefully you will forgive me and we can go home and kiss and have a happy tea party with lots of--"

'Tarrant!" she jarred him from his ramble. "I understand. I love you, Tarrant. Let's go home."

The madman grinned. "Our home."

* * *

Everything The Hatter thought in the first part of this chapter is me. I am guessing a lot of people can also identify with it.


	7. Chapter 7

Just to make it clear, I don't own the property of Alice in Wonderland and the surrounding things that are not mine. Obviously. I just don't know the laws of this crap, and I'm not making any money off of it, but people are retarded. So that is my disclaimer. Seriously, if I owned it there would be no need to make fanfiction. On with the story!

* * *

Tarrant swallowed nervously as he watched Alice Kingsley chattering vivaciously with Mirana and the Tweedles. She'd been with him in Underland for about a year, now, and while they had their moments, things could not have been happier. Hatter was a mostly healed man, though still quite mad--that would be for life, and Alice had adjusted to living with said madman and seemed to always bring him back with extreme grace and unending patience. Her (and his too) favorite way was to simply kiss him, but he had to be relatively still for that to work. No thought in his head could compete with Alice's soft, warm, slow-moving, tender, comforting, passionate...

"You look like you're about to break the news that the Red Queen's come back to power," came a snarky voice beside him.

"And you look like you're fading in from thin air. What do you want, Chessur?" Hatter tersely replied.

The cat's grin grew wider, if possible. "Touchy today."

"Did you just come here to mock me?"

"I came to get those three out of your way," Chessur motioned towards Alice's companions.

Tarrant looked gloomy. "Let her have her fun."

A disappearing smoke-face shook its head. "Not a chance."

Hatter saw his love's friends depart as she bounded towards him, a bright smile and eyes full of happiness. He couldn't help it, her mood was contagious and a smile played upon his lips. "Did you have fun, my dear?"

She nodded emphatically, but before she could explain, he pulled her closer, staring into her eyes with extreme seriousness in his gaze. Tarrant Hightopp took her right hand in both of his own.

"Alice Kingsley?" he asked, slightly timid.

She was a bit confused. "Yes, Tarrant?"

He removed his hat, continuing to look serious. _Muchness, please come back for at least a moment._ "Alice, I love you very much, as you know." She nodded. "My hat has been my most favorite possession for years and years, but it does not compare to you. Underland tradition is to give what thing you cherish most when..." he paused. This wasn't coming out as perfectly as he'd rehearsed, so he changed pace. "Alice, will you marry me?"

Her breath caught, heart pounding in pure bliss. "Tarrant, _yes_! I will most certainly marry you! You're the only man I would ever marry." Flooded with emotion, she threw her lips upon his parted ones, wildly, happily kissing him in excitement.

He gently put his top upon her head.

* * *

"I'm just going away for a couple nights, Hatter. I promise I'll be home!"

His eyes were a light blue. Sad, but not devastated. "You'll be gone a month, our time. Why do you have to go?"

"You could come with me, Tarrant."

He considered that for a moment. "Maybe I will."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"But Underland's much better."

"And I have to tell my mother and sister I'm to be married to the man I love, and let them know I'm safe and happy," she explained for the hundredth time. He silently nodded, giving in peacefully.

The two arrived by way of a large hollow tree, as Alice looked for signs of where they could possibly be. After finding a familiar road, she and her fiancee walked through the morning gray light, hands tightly melded together. She felt a strange out-of-place-ness, walking up to her large white house.

"ALICE!" screamed her sister the second the door opened. The blonde was choked by her sister's tight embrace. Pulling back, Margaret's eyes widened. "You've been gone for **weeks**! Are you okay?" Noticing Tarrant, she gasped. "Who is **this**?"

The Hatter gave a small, apprehensive smile. Alice took his hand. "The reason I couldn't marry Hamish. The reason I had to leave. The man who accepts every little quirk of mine, and the man I love. We're getting married, I thought you and Mom would like to meet him." There, it was all in the open. Margaret seemed to take it rather well, and led them inside. She was probably just happy to see her sister.

After tea had been hastily set, Alice realized how dreadfully spoiled Tarrant had made her. His creations were twenty times better!

Alice's mother looked at her tiredly. "You're happy?"

The blonde girl nodded.

"That's all your father would have wanted for you in a marriage." She turned to Hatter, "What did you say your name was?"

He held his hand to her, "Tarrant Hightopp, Mrs. Kingsley. You are incredibly lucky to have gotten to live with Alice for the many years before I ever could. She's so wonderful, no doubt thanks in part to you. Your blessings to us will not go unappreciated. I love Alice more than life itself, and I will make her as happy as I possibly can forever." Alice giggled at his little speech--Tarrant could be quite the charmer.

Mrs. Kingsley reddened, embarrased but flattered, and shook his hand warmly. "I'm very glad. You know, I'm sure Alice has told you, but you remind me of her father." She glanced at her daughter. "She no doubt fell for you for many of the same reasons I fell for him."

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this in my old bedroom. It's so weird. Well, I guess it's where I met you first, but _still_!"

Hatter cut her rant off with a kiss, which she eagerly returned as always. Teasingly, he pulled back. "If you want to stop..."

She gave a violently seductive glare and pushed the infuriating madman to the bed, giving a short huff. "_If you want to stop_," she mocked. Alice tore at his pants, not caring about properly undressing him completely. They were shoved down just enough that she could lower herself slowly, wetly on to him. He moaned as she slid down, enjoying it too much to speak or move, wanting her to continue her maddening devouring of him. Her dress was merely hiked to her waist as she hovered over him, taking every inch he had inside of her.

He gripped her hips tightly as she rode him, both stifling their groans so as not to be heard.

Hatter smiled wickedly, taking this situation as a challenge: could he make her scream out? His hand drifted to their connection, and his fingers slowly rubbed her clitoris up and down. Alice dug her fingernails into the bed, leaning back and moving herself faster. She could feel herself getting close and whispered her lover's name quietly.

With this, Tarrant pulled his hand away and rolled her on her back, kicking his pants off in the process.

"No, not yet."

She whimpered slightly, but his lips met with hers in a passionate tryst. His digits slid up her dress and began to caress her breasts, his thumb paying special attention to her nipple.

Alice wanted him inside of her. Bad. But when she tried to move their hips in such a way that he would end up falling back in, he wouldn't budge. It was time to start driving him equally crazy.

She began moaning as her hand found his hard manhood, and wrapped around it.

Tarrant's eyes rolled back in his head, sufficiently distracted by her maneuver. He shifted to a better position, and plunged back inside with one thrust.

He reached so deep and went so fast that Alice couldn't keep her cry from escaping her lips. Tarrant lasted three more strokes before he exploded, Alice along with him.

Their loving gazes in the quiet aftermath lasted about thirty seconds before there was a rapping on the door.

"Is everything alright?" Margret's voice called. "I heard a yell!"

Alice's face was as red as a rose. "A spider. But Tarrant got it. Sorry!" she managed to respond, hopeful it was convincing enough.

The Hatter just laughed, kissed her forehead, and wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

Hatter had come home from a day of hatting for the Queen to find his house almost completely different. His entire collection of hats was now artistically displayed along every wall in the house, arranged by color, shape, and size. There were also a lot of items he'd never seen before adorning bookshelves and tables. Strange as it was to get used to, he liked it.

He found Alice on her knees, studying a piece of paper.

"Oh," she turned around, not having seen him until he said a gentle hello.

"The house--I like it," he smiled, then knelt beside her and kissed her cheek.

The blonde looked relieved and happy, "I was nervous you'd hate it. I brought all my things from my old world. Look at this diary entry I wrote many years ago!"

Tarrant took the wrinkled parchment as his eyes drifted across the words.

_Diary,_

_Mum says not to bother her with my dreams anymore, but that's okay. They don't scare me as much as they used to, because Daddy said I can't be hurt. There's an angry mouse, a frighteningly bonkers madman with a giant hat, _(Tarrant laughed here)_ two rabbits that really need some mental help, and all sorts of other odd characters. I have these dreams every night no matter what. But what's even curiouser is that I've grown to think of these people as my friends. I know they aren't real...but I kind of hope I can have tea with them every night. Mum never has to yell at me to go to bed anymore, because I'm almost so eager that I hop right in. My sister just yells at me if I talk to her about anything. I think Daddy is the only one who really cares about me in the family, sometimes._

_I wish the people in my dream, people that actually seem to like me, were real. They're the only real friends I have, that I can be myself around._

_And if you promise to keep it a secret, the madman with the hat, who also is obsessed with tea, is kind of cute. Diary, if you tell anyone, I'll burn you up and get a replacement!_

_Love,_

_Alice Kingsley_

"I have to say I always thought you were an extraordinarily sweet child, but if you wrote this, that's proof. I can't believe you thought I was cute!" Tarrant kissed her tenderly, touched that she had always been _his_.

She smiled. "You've always been my best friend, and you have no idea how happy I was when it hit me that you loved me just as much as I loved you. I always wanted to fall in love and marry a man that was my best friend."

With that, he embraced her tightly.

"Tarrant, what did you think of me?" she wondered.

He thought for a second. "Well, at first I thought you were just a normal girl, as you thought me mad and didn't seem to have fun at the tea party. When I got to know you, I found you extremely endearing and caught myself wishing you were older. When you came back just that, I was ecstatic and it was all I could do to not kiss you. I desperately wanted our first kiss to be perfect, so I kept waiting. Our first kiss was certainly great, if you remember, but far from what I ever wanted. I should have done it on the balcony before you slay the Jabberwock, or before you left when I thought you'd left for good. However, now I simply fall more in love each passing minute!"

Her heart flew, and the two held each other, punctuating every few seconds with a kiss. Silence could be very comfortable and relaxing, indeed, when you were so in love.

* * *

End.

(And they lived happily ever after!)


End file.
